Schools across Wrexham will begin opening for the new term from Tuesday, September 1 as part of a phased return for pupils, and your child’s school will have been in touch with you by now to confirm arrangements.
As we are getting very close to the reopening of our schools in Wrexham, many of you will have questions about home to school transport and how it will work due to Covid-19. We have been working hard with our ‘Education Recovery Group’ to get things in place for September.
No matter how mild your symptoms are, you should get a test for Coronavirus
Welsh Government recommends that learners should be encouraged to adopt active travel opportunities such as walking or cycling where reasonable, practical and safe to do so, but we are aware that this just isn’t possible for everyone.
If your child will be using home to school transport with us, we want to reassure you that a lot of planning has gone into making these journeys as safe as possible. We are following Welsh Government guidelines so that contracted vehicles will be clean and safe to use, but we are asking for your and your children’s help to minimise the risk of transmission of Covid-19.
Cllr David A Bithell, Deputy Leader of the Council and Lead Member for Environment and Transport, said: “It’s understandable if some of you are feeling a little uneasy at the prospect our allowing your child to use home to school transport as they return, but we want to reassure you that it’s really important to us for children using school transport to be safe.
“All our school transport vehicles will be thoroughly cleaned in line with Welsh Government guidelines. This will include making sure that areas such as handles that get touched often will be regularly and thoroughly cleaned. Vehicles will also receive a deep clean once a day, and they are cleaned before picking pupils up in the morning and at the end of the school run in the afternoon.
“We’ve calculated how many pupils we can offer a seat to, based on vehicle size and social distancing guidelines, and children will be sat in year group clusters with empty seats being used to allow spacing between the year groups.
“We’ve put these measures in place so that your child’s journey to and from their school will be safe, but you will need to play your part as well. Pupils over 11 years old are asked to wear face coverings when using home to school transport, so please make sure they are prepared for this.
“Most importantly, do not, under any circumstances, let your child travel if they, or anyone in your household, have a high temperature or are showing any other symptoms of the coronavirus.”
We have prepared some handy Questions and Answers for parents:
Home to school transport protocol September 2020
[button color=”” size=”large” type=”square_outlined” target=”new” link=” https://gov.wales/apply-coronavirus-test”] APPLY NOW [/button]
